Katsuaki
by Fleur de Anemone
Summary: Katsuaki Hyuuga's life is a real mess. First she gets attacked by ninjas, her visionary breaks, and her strongest guard leaves. When he returns, Katsuaki is a woman, but she is still no ninja...
1. Chapter 1

**Katsuaki**

**By Areku1993**

"We're all secure for the night!"

The girl flashed a grin and disappeared into her bedroom. "Okay, mom! Good night!"

But the night was anything but good.

The girl was none other than Katsuaki Hyuuga, from the main branch of the Hyuuga clan. However, Katsuaki wasn't a ninja, but she possessed byakugen. It wasn't nearly as advanced as Neji's, or even Hinata's for that matter, but it was still byakugen. apparently someone else thought so, too.

About half way through the night, the long black haired Hyuuga girl heard a crash in her living room. Her door was thrust open, and in entered a ninja clad in black with a katana in each hand. Katsuaki tumbled out of bed and stood up, trembling. She was no ninja. She didn't know anything about fighting.

When one of the katanas swiveled in the ninja's hand to point at her, she screamed and flung herself out a window. Landing safely on the ground about five feet below, she took off at a run.

* * *

_"Naruto, I love you..."_

_Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Really, Sakura?"_

_Sakura nodded and smiled, leaning forward. "If you love me back, kiss me and we can rub it in that Sasuke bastard's face!"_

_"All right!"_

_Slap, slap, slap._

_"Sakura?"_

Naruto's eyes flickered open and he sat up in bed. He rubbed his eyes and sighed. What woke him up? It was hot tonight, so he left his window open. He could hear slapping noises on the pavement below. What time was it? He looked at the clock. Four in the morning. What were those noises? Couldn't be rain. He stood up and adjusted his nightcap, yawning and looking out the window.

Katsuaki was running by his building, pursued closely by the ninja from her room. She was running on fear-induced energy, and that energy was running out. The ninja was gaining on her, and she had full understanding that she would either A, die, or B, get kidnapped.

But huzzah.

A kunai whizzed out from a window, thudding into the ninja's shoulder, surprising him and making him topple over with surprise. Naruto leapt out of his window and landed on the pavement near Katsuaki, holding a hand towards her. "Come on!"

Katsuaki took his hand and was practically dragged off. Minutes later, she sat in Naruto's apartment, her legs curled to her chest, trembling uncontrollably.

Naruto set down a mug of cocoa. It was what everybody did in the movies, and he was glad that Katsuaki accepted it gratefully. She brought it to her lips and took a sip, trying to set it back down. But the mug slipped from her shivering fingers and smashed on the floor.

"I'm sorry..." She muttered. Her eyes lifted to look at Naruto. "They won't come back, right?"

"That depends on what they want." Naruto replied. He stood up and grabbed a rag to clean up the spilled cocoa. "Any idea?"

"No..."

"What's your name? Are you a ninja? How old are you?"

"I'm not a ninja... And my name? Katsuaki Hyuuga. I'm sixteen."

Naruto blinked. So she was his age. "Hyuuga? So you know Hinata and Neji, right?"

"They're my cousins. I don't see them a lot, so I'm afriad I don't know much about you..."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! People think I'm a loser, but soon I'll become the greatest Hokage and finally get the respect I deserve!"

"Naruto?" Katsuaki furrowed her brow. "Oh, right. Neji says you're a loser, but my mom says that you deserve respect."

"Your mom?"

"Uh huh. My mom says that anyone who fights for our village deserves respect." Katsuaki smiled. "What about your parents?"

Naruto looked at the floor. "I never knew any of my parents." He immediately put on a grin. "But that doesn't bother me!"

Katsuaki looked at him with a sad expression. Then, a thought occured to her. "Naruto? Have you ever heard of a medical jutsu that can take someone's eye and then replace it with another one?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Eh? I don't think so... Oh! Yeah! Kakashi sensei! He said something about that."

"I have byakugen. It's not nearly as good as Neji's, or Hinata's, but it's still byakugen. It could be trained to be even better than Neji's, with enough time and devotion. I think, because I'm the most helpless, whoever wants byakugen has come after me."

"HELPLESS!"

Katsuaki flinched. "...What?"

Naruto moved his arms and hands to emphasize. "DID YOU SEE HOW FAST YOU WERE RUNNING? You were like WOOSH!"

Katsuaki sweatdropped. "Um... Yeah... Well, I'll go home tomorrow, and you won't have to worry anymore. I'll get someone to help me out. Neji, maybe."

Naruto stood up. "Come on, I know the PERFECT person to guard you!"

Katsuaki just blinked.

* * *

"HEY WAKE UP!"

"GAHH!"

Kakashi fell out of bed, glaring at the clock. He tied on his mask and head protector and banged his head on his mattress. "Naruto! It's almost five in the morning! You should be getting ready for training!"

"NOW WE KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING WHEN YOU'RE 'LOST ON THE ROAD OF LIFE!'" Naruto's voice came through the door. "OPEN THE DOOR! IT'S IMPORTANT! AND I HOPE YOUR NOT NAKED!"

Kakashi heard a giggle, and a muffled, "Hey, shut up, he'll hear you!"

Sighing, the jounin stood up and opened his door, rubbing his eye. Naruto was doing the exact same thing, in his pajamas and nightcap. A black haired girl's face popped over his shoulder. "Hi."

Kakashi blinked. "Eh."

"This is Katsuaki, Katsuaki Hyuuga. This ninja guy was chasing her and I saved her, but now she needs someone to protect her. You know how you got YOUR eye? Well, Katsuaki thinks someone wants to do the same thing with her byakugen."

Kakashi sighed. "If Katsuaki is a true ninja, she should be able to take care of herself."

"I'm not a ninja." Katsuaki replied. "Just because I'm a Hyuuga doesn't mean I have to be a ninja, Kakashi."

"But she can run REAL fast!" Once again, Naruto moved his arms and hands to emphasize. "She was like WOOSH!"

Kakashi and Katsuaki sweatdropped.

"Well anyway, could you watch her for a while, Kakashi sensei? She could be in danger..."

"Konoha ninjas only cater to people who are paying for missions..." Kakashi turned away briefly, scratching his hair. "It'd be against the rules...

When he turned around, Katsuaki flashed several pieces of paper in his face. "Is this enough?"

Kakashi blinked. "Where did..." He looked around, his eyes falling on a jar near the door. He kept some money in there for emergencies, and the jar was empty. He snatched it back and stuffed it back in the jar. "Don't do that..."

"Whatever ever happened to your 'I'll never let my comrades die' slogan?" Naruto demanded.

"Well, number one, Katsuaki is not one of my comrades. Two, I don't even think she has byakugen, or is of the Hyuuga clan to boot." Kakashi replied, sitting back down on his bed.

"Nice sharingan."

Kakashi blinked. Katsuaki's eyes were white and the veins were visible on her temples. She pointed at his left eye. "But only one? Hm. Strange, you know. Only one eye is sharingan while the other one is perfectly normal. Why's that, Kakashi?"

Kakashi began to reply, but Katsuaki interrupted him. "Oh, wait, of course. The scar across your eye... A good friend, an Uchiha friend by the sharingan, tranferred his eye to yours when you lost it. Medical jutsu?"

Kakashi nodded slowly while Katsuaki turned off her byakugen. "I don't want to push you guys into anything," She said. "As much as I would like this protection, if you don't feel like doing it you don't have to. If I suddenly just disappear Neji and Hinata would go nuts trying to find me, so I don't think I have to worry."

Katsuaki turned, but made a small gasp when Kakashi's hand thumped down on her shoulder. "Just because it's against the rules doesn't mean I won't help protect you, Katsuaki."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer (I forgot it in the first chapter): I don't own Naruto, or the book "Click Here" where the tootsie roll thing came from.**

**Katsuaki  
****By Areku1993**

"Mom!"

"Katsuaki!"

Katsuaki hugged her mother, who kissed the top of her head. "I thought you were dead, or gone, or something..."

Mrs. Hyuuga looked up at Kakashi and Naruto. It was the next morning, around seven AM... Sasuke and Sakura were probably grumbling that they were BOTH later. "Thank you for bringing Katsuaki back."

"No problem!" Naruto grinned.

"But we feel that Katsuaki should stay with us," Kakashi added. "For extra security. My students need to train, you know, and we can't exactly to that. So instead of us following Katsuaki, I think that Katsuaki should tag along with us."

Mrs. Hyuuga nodded. "Yes, of course. Kakashi, you are a wise man."

Naruto jabbed his thumb towards himself. "She can bunk with me. I have lots of extra space in my apartment!"

"Naruto, you're a sixteen year old boy." Kakashi and Mrs. Hyuuga exchanged glances. "I don't think your apartment would be the safest place for her."

Naruto turned red. "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"He means exactly what he says, Naruto." Katsuaki replied.

* * *

"Sakura, Sasuke, this is Katsuaki. She'll be with us for a while."

"ANOTHER TEAMMATE?"

Sakura began running back and forth hysterically. Even though it was highly un-Sasuke like, the Uchiha heir found himself joining her.

When Sakura and Sasuke were running in opposite directions, Kakashi reached out with both arms and caught their collars. "Calm down, she's not even a ninja. We just have to guard her because some ninjas were after her byakugen."

"Oh..."

Sakura and Sasuke stopped. Sakura looked and blinked at Katsuaki. "So, what's your name? How old are you? Do you have any special talents besides byakugen?"

"Well... My name is Katsuaki Hyuuga, I'm sixteen years old and..." She tapped her chin. "Talents, talents..." She held up a finger. "OF COURSE! My father gave this to me before he went away." She pulled a small metal cube out of her pocket and set it on the ground, pressing a big red button on it. The four ninjas leapt back when it started to grow and expand. Soon it sort of looked like a small television with a camera-thing on top.

"It's called a Visionary." Katsuaki explained. "My father brought it back from one of his travels for me. It's used to see yourself in another time era, you know, like a hundred years ago or something. Do you want to see yourself in... Hmm, nineteen fourteen? Back in the time of magic and alchemy?"

"That was only eighty one years ago. Magic? Alchemy?" Sasuke scoffed. "The only magic is jutsu."

"Mm. I've seen the early nineteen hundreds before..."

Pressing another button, the screen flashed green, and soon had small images of everybody on it. The screen flashed again, and Katsuaki put in the time. The year nineteen fourteen. The it began to flash, again. Once, then twice, then even a third time.

"It'll flash eighty one times. We will replace people already in that era. I know for sure who Sasuke will be." She flashed a grin. "Or, should I call you Colonel Sasuke Uchiha, Flame Alchemist for Amestris?"

"How do you know who I'll be?" Sasuke asked.

"It says it right here. Under your image. See?" She pointed. "Naruto will be the Fullmetal alchemist Edward Elric. A real child prodigy, hero of the people. Sakura will be First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, the best sharpshooter in the military. Kakashi will be warrant officer Veto Falman, a stiff..." Here Sakura giggled, and Kakashi glared at her. "And I'll be Winry Rockbell, Naruto's mechanic."

"I need a mechanic?"

"Yeah. Several years ago you lost your arm and leg in an accident and they were replaced with metal ones. I'm the girl who makes, attaches and fixes them for you. Sasuke is your boss, Sakura is Sasuke's subordinate, and so is Kakashi. I'm not with the military."

"So basically, Sasuke is the most important one of us all." Naruto asked.

"Yup."

Naruto glared at his rival. "I HATE YOU SO MUCH!"

Suddenly, the screen turned black. Katsuaki banged it with her fist and shrugged. "It died. I'll charge it later. You all probably want to train now. Sorry to hold you up."

"Arf! Arrf!"

A dog leapt into Katsuaki's lap, barking. It was small and white, with black lips that stood out. Naruto could recognize it in a heartbeat.

"Akamaru."

"Aww, you're so cute!" Katsuaki scratched Akamaru's ears. "Just about the cutest little dog I've ever seen! Are you lost? Or are you stray?"

Akamaru just barked. Like most dogs do.

"He's not stray. He's Kiba's dog, Akamaru." Naruto looked around. "That means Kurenei and her team, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and your cousin, Hinata Hyuuga, are nearby."

"AKAMARU!"

Akamaru paid no attention to his master's voice. Katsuaki had found a key place behind Akamaru's ear to scratch, and the dog didn't feel like getting up.

Kiba crashed through the trees. He looked in every direction in this order: Left, right, behind him, in front of him, up, and down. But he did not once look diagonal, at Naruto and his team.

"Oh!"

Katsuaki stood up with Akamaru. "He's right here. I'm sorry you were so worried. I love dogs, I can assure you I'd never do anything to hurt them."

Kiba blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, everybody likes dogs, here in Konoha anyway. I'm sure you'd take good care of Akamaru if he was yours. Come on now, Akamaru..."

Akamaru barked at him and continued to nestle in Katsuaki's arms.

"Akamaru..."

"Here." Katsuaki walked over to him and deposited Akamaru in his arms, pointing behind the white dog's ear. "Scratch him right there. He likes it. Oh yeah!"

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out several full-sized chocolate tootsie pops. "HAVE A LOLLI!"

Everyone just sort of looked at each other...

"To me, friends are like tootsie pops. When you bite one, it's like a fight. If you bite too hard you might eat too much of the tootsie roll inside, which is like a friendship. You don't want to bite the friendship and kill it."

Everyone just sweatdropped... "Hey, Katsuaki... You like philosophy?" Kakashi asked.

"Mm hm!"

And this all happened BEFORE Naruto left with Jiraiya.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Sorry, I just realized... Back then, Katsuaki and Naruto weren't 16, they were twelve. And they're 14 now. K? K.)**

**Katsuaki  
****By Areku1993**

Yamato and team Kakashi, consisting of Naruto, Sakura and Sai, were about to move out, when Naruto suddenly remembered something. Something big.

"Sakura! Sai! Can this wait? Just another ten minutes?"

"Why, Naruto?" Sai asked, that annoying cheerful look on his face. "Are you scared? Cowardly?"

Naruto shot him a cold glare. "There's someone I have to see..."

"Girlfriend?"

"She's NOT my girlfriend...!"

"Oh!" Sakura smiled. "Katsuaki! The Hyuuga girl? She lives nearby, why don't you come with us, Sai? You too, Yamato sensei!"

Naruto scratched at his hair furiously. "Great, great, invite Orochimaru why don't you..."

* * *

Naruto tapped his foot on the ground. "Come on, come on, open up..."

"No ones inside... Up here... Who is it? I was asleep, so I'm afraid I didn't see you."

Naruto stepped back from the porch and looked up. There was Katsuaki, sitting on the roof, but she looked different. Her hair was up, and her eyes stood out more, the color fading late into the famous Hyuuga white eyes. She wore a white miniskirt and tank top, but with a black jumpsuit underneath, with mesh sleeves. She wore no shoes, for... No reason, really.

Katsuaki's face screwed up in confusion, but soon she beamed. "Naruto! You're back!" She blinked down at him. "...But where were you?"

Naruto grinned. "I was training! What about you? You look different."

Katsuaki jumped down while Naruto went on, "You're hair is shorter, I guess, and your eyes are whiter, and you're taller and..." His eyes paused momentarily on her chest before moving on. "... Older. And hey, you still have your byakugen! I guess Kakashi sensei's been taking good care of you!"

Katsuaki blushed and smiled. "I guess he has..."

Katsuaki turned on her byakugen and looked around. "Who're they?" She asked without turning towards Sai, Yamato or Sakura.

"Sai is replacing Sasuke in our team, and Kakashi is busy, so Yamato is leading our team... And you know Sakura."

"Righto." She turned to look at Sai and Sakura and Yamato and turned off her byakugen. "Hi. I'm Katsuaki Hyuuga, it's nice to meet you both!" She smiled and shook Yamato's hand, offering hers to Sai. Sai just sort of looked at it.  
Katsuaki pulled her hand back. Then it shot back down and grabbed Sai's, shaking happily. "It's nice to have you back, Naruto. It was quiet here without you. Do you want to come in?"

"Sorry, Katsuaki, but we have to go again. Big mission!"

Katsuaki grinned. "All right. Come back alive, you hear?"

"Gotcha, Katsu. Bye!"

When team Kakashi finally disappeared around a building, Katsuaki sighed and leaned on the doorframe. _Naruto... At least come back soon... I have no one else to talk to when you're gone..._

Katsuaki returned in the house and we directly to her room. Her home also doubled as a gift shop, which she ran with her mother, but they were closed today. She flung herself on her bed and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Katsuaki!"

She sat up, hollering an irritated "WHAT!" back to her mother.

"Come downstairs into the shop! It's urgent!"

Katsuaki slid down the banister and trotted into the shop, alert. "What is it? Someone here?"

Two men sat in the shop, their expressionless animal masks turning towards Katsuaki. "Katsuaki Hyuuga?" One asked. Katsuaki nodded.

"We understand that your father has been gone for a long time," One of them began. "Do you have any idea where he is? This is important."

Katsuaki scoured her brain, but came up blank. "Nope. I'm sorry... You're from the ANBU, right? Why don't you just run around near Konoha, ask the Kazekage, or whatever?"

The ANBU ninjas ignored this. "Are you sure you have absolutely NO IDEA where he is? We need him to go on a very, VERY important mission!"

Katsuaki stood up. "I'll go on the mission. How hard could it be?"

"Oh, this is a very important mission indeed."

One of the ANBU ninjas unrolled a scroll and held it up, while the other one pointed. "This is the one-year peace treaty we have with the sand. All of our birds have disappeared, and the only one that came back was our fastest hawk. And she died several hours later. We need someone to run this to the sand."

"But why my father? We have many more ninjas."

"We want to test the Hyuuga blood."

"Katsuaki, you're a very fast runner. You can do this, of couse. It's just a trek to the sand and back." Her mother urged.

Katsuaki took the peace treaty and looked it over. "Hm..."

* * *

"There's something coming!"

Naruto glared at the black-haired boy. "And how would you know, Sai?"

"If you were a real ninja you'd be able to hear it, dope!"

Naruto, Sai, Sakura and Yamato stopped. Listening, they looked around and backed into the shrubbery. It was clearly not a ninja, for whoever it was did now hide his or her presence.

All of a sudden, Katsuaki leapted through the clearing, her hand clamped tightly over the peace treaty.

Sproing.

Moments later, Katsuaki's ear was pushed into the ground, a firm hand holding her arm behind her back and the side of her head in the dirt. Sai smiled annoyingly. "Why were you following us?"

"I wasn't," Katsuaki growled. Her hand twitched. "I have to deliver this peace treaty to Kazekage Gaara. Now get off me, pervert..."

"SAI!"

Naruto crouched down and bent his head close to the groud to look at Katsuaki's face. "Sorry, Katsuaki. And Sai's not a pervert, I think he's gay. He wears a miniskirt and a tank top."

Sai twitched and scowled, but soon regained his cheerful smile.

Katsuaki laughed. "Fine. Just get the queer off my back so I can deliver this to Gaara."

That was the last straw. Sai whipped out the long knife on his back and twirled it, aiming for the back of Katsuaki's skull.

He was interrupted by a giggle.

Katsuaki grinned. "I see you... Put that knife away!" Her byakugen was on, and she was watching the whirling blade. She was scared... But she was a Hyuuga, and even if she wasn't a ninja, she was courageous. Tossing the peace treaty to Naruto, she used her free hand to reach back to poke Sai's arm. The knife spun away into a tree as Sai pulled his arm back with a jerk, wincing. "Byakugen can see the coil system..." He muttered angrily, leaping off Katsuaki into a tree.

Katsuaki took the treaty from Naruto and ran off, stopping at the edge of the clearing. She turned towards him and flashed a grin. "Now you get on with your little mission thing. I'll be home by six o'clock tomorrow." She winked and blew him a kiss. "Byyyeee."

Watching her disappear in the plants, Naruto blushed red and fell over.

"Naruto!" Yamato scolded. "Get up. Sai, get down here, we're on a mission!"

* * *

Katsuaki took a whiff of the air and grinned. Ah the sand. The air was so dusty here, not at all clear like the leaf's air. It wasn't lovely, but it was a change.

She walked through the crowded streets, swinging a lanyard from one hand. On the end of the lanyard was a pass that stated she was visiting from the leaf, given to her at the main gate.

Pausing in the streets, still swinging that lanyard, her eyes turned to admire a kimono hanging in a show window. She felt a thump, and looked up.

A boy with purple makeup on his face blinked, and grinned evilly. "You hit me."

"I wasn't paying attention, I, um, did see you, and I, um..." She took several steps back. "Sorry?"

The boy (AKA Kankurou) took a step forward, pulling his marionette off his back. "Sorry, huh..."

Katsuaki just squealed and held up her pass. "I'm from Konoha! I have to deliver something to the kazekage!"

"Gaara?" Kankurou blinked. "OF COURSE!" He put his marionette on his back and shook her hand vigorously. "You have the peace treaty from Konoha. The last bird they sent said it would come soon. But we haven't gotten any messages since!"

Katsuaki glared. "Mm. All of our birds are now dead or injured by unknown causes. My name is Katsuaki Hyuuga of the main branch family."

"Hyuuga! So you have byakugen!"

"...Yeah..."

Kankurou was about to reply, when Katsuaki turned it on all of a sudden. "Do you know where Gaara is now? I promised... This guy I'd be home by six o'clock tomorrow."

"What guy?"

Katsuaki turned red. "... You probably don't know him."

"So he's a loser."

"No!"

"What's his name?"

"N--"

"Naruto?"

"God..."

"GOOOOOOD BYE!" Katsuaki spun around and took off at a run. Say good bye to the Hyuuga courage.

* * *

"Kazekage, sir, there is someone here to see you."

Gaara blinked slowly. He wasn't planning this..."

"Thank you." Katsuaki nodded to the assistant and closed the door behind her. "Kazekage, sir, I'm from Konoha, my name is Katsuaki Hyuuga." She unrolled the scroll. "This is the peace treaty... All of our messenger birds are dead, so we had to run it over by hand."

"'We?'"

"Well, just me. Stupid ANBU sent me, I'm not even a ninja. Just a kid who can run too fast for her own freaking good..." She set the scroll down on the table. "Here..."

"Aren't you going to read it?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm the Kazekage."

"...Right..."

She picked the scroll back up and unrolled it, scanning the words. "Erm..." She looked up at Gaara, then set the scroll back on the table. "I don't read very well, sir..." She sighed nervously and turned. "I'll just leave and get it later..."

She left the room and closed the door, leaning on it and sighing again. Her byakugen on, she watched Gaara pick up the scroll and unroll it to read.

"Watching Gaara? He'll kill you if he found out."

Katsuaki's byakugen picked up the shape and details of Temari. She turned and shivered. "Uh, I'm sorry, I was just in there, to deliver something from Konoha, and..."

"Don't be stiff. I'll keep quiet, no matter how hard it is for me." Temari smiled and turned. "Come on, I'll show you around. It'll take Gaara ages to consider his options and sign the stupid thing anyway. The sand isn't exactly a tourist spot, but we have our moments in the spotlight."

* * *

About an hour later, Temari led Katsuaki to a cafe to eat.

"So you're Katsuaki Hyuuga, you're no ninja, but the Konoha ANBU sent you on this mission?" Temari summarized as they ordered their food.

Katsuaki nodded and nervously looked at a clock. "Do you think Gaara's done yet? I need to get home!"

"Why?"

"I... I promised someone I'd be home by six tomorrow."

"Promised who?"

"You don't know him..."

"So he's a guy."

"...But he's on a mission..."

"So he's a ninja."

"...But he and team Kakashi will be back soon..."

"So it's Naruto."

"Yes... I mean no, I mean..." She looked around and commented. "That is a really big fan!"

Temari sweatdropped. "You're going out with the number one knuckleheaded hyperactive ninja of Konoha?"

"He's not like that anymore... He's a LITTLE more sophisticated than he was when he was twelve. And we're not... Officially going out. He had to go on a mission the day I realized he was home."

They were interrupted as a waiter shuffled up nervously. "My boss is going to kill me, but I forgot to ask you... What do you want to drink?"

"I'll have a diet Coke," Temari nodded towards Katsuaki. "And she wants..."

Katsuaki pulled out a small badge and said, "Margarita, please."

The waiter looked at the badge and nodded, walking away.

"You can't have alcohol, you're a minor!" Temari murmered. Katsuaki showed her the badge. "Actually, I've been legally amacipated since I was nine. That's why I can't read very well, I haven't been to school since third grade."

Katsuaki turned on her byakugen and looked around, like she did every few minutes. "My mom didn't want to pay extra money for school supplies. I rather don't like school, anyway, and I'm proud to be the only Hyuuga who's NOT a ninja."

She paused and grinned, turning around in her chair and shouting out the open window, "HEY, SHIKAMARU!"

Shikamaru turned and his eyes flickered. "Katsuaki... How troublesome... Hi, Kat." His eyes shifted and he nodded. "...Temari."

"What are you doing here?" Katsuaki asked with a fleeting grin.

"Chuunin business, don't ask. What about you?"

"I'm on business, too. I had to deliver a peace treaty to the Kazekage."

"How's your mom?"

Katsuaki jumped up. "Oh, crap! Mom! I have to call her... Tell her how I'm doing... Temari?"

Temari stood up and rummaged around in her pocket. "You can use my cell."


End file.
